WORCESTER City Council have come under fire for wasting £500,000 on Perdiswell.

The Football Foundation granted the money in 2006 for new changing rooms and pitch improvements on the site.

But drainage issues have put the pitches out of action for the past two seasons and there is no sign of them being used in the near future.

Local football stalwart Dickie Widdowson, who has run Archdales since 1968, wants the council to restore Perdiswell to its former glory or grant Worcester City FC permission to build a new stadium.

He said: “The city council have received Football Foundation monies to pay for changing rooms at Perdiswell and they are used as a storage area whilst the pitches lie empty.

“When will Worcester City Council make these pitches available again for local football?”

The 72-year-old believes the Perdiswell situation highlights how the authority have “devastated” grounds over the past 25 years, leaving them in poor or unusable conditions.

There are currently 14 council-owned pitches across six venues — Brickfields, Pitchcroft, Northwick Lodge, Shap Drive, Cornmeadow Lane and Diglis.

Single pitches are also situated at Howard Road and Ronkswood, and there are four at Perdiswell, but none are in use.

Widdowson said: “Speaking as an official of a local football club for the last 50 years, I would like to point out how our local council has devastated football pitches over the last 25 years.

“As a player myself in the 60s, there were 10 or 12 pitches on Perdiswell, all in good condition. Now there are none.

“Perdiswell is now used for local dog walkers, some of whom leave dog mess and do not bag it or bin it.”

City’s supporters’ trust want to build a 4,100-capacity stadium on Perdiswell and plans are at an advanced stage.

Widdowson added: “I would like to point out that if the council deny Worcester City their new ground in a few years time it would most likely be sold for a supermarket to be built or housing — then the NIMBYs would have something to moan about.

“They should know that Worcester City would only play home games once a fortnight and an occasional evening game.”

A Worcester City Council spokesman said: “The Football Foundation provided funding for new changing facilities and work to existing pitches at Perdiswell.

“Unfortunately, there have been problems with the playing surface, which means the pitches have been temporarily taken out of use.

“We are working with the Football Foundation to resolve these issues and we hope to be able to put a solution in place as part of a wider project to improve the sports and leisure offering at Perdiswell, including the proposed building of a new swimming pool.

“We have ensured enough pitches are available at other sites across the city to meet demand for football in Worcester. We are confident teams can still get to play regularly.”